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A small sliver of light sneaked through the closet door, suddenly illuminating his paws and part of his dark gray tail from where he sat in almost complete darkness, closing his eyes, he tried to be as silent as possible.
Kichōna felt the creak of a wooden floor board beneath him, causing him to immediately hold his breath and stiffen, with his fur lifting slightly. He clutched his hands now to his legs, holding them close so they touched his chest, continuing to keep his eyes tightly shut. "Don't open the door," he thought fiercely, not willing to give in as his eyes from under his eyelids perceived a larger body of light appear, most likely that of the door opening. "Don't open . . ."
Reluctantly, his eyelids opened, but before his eyes could adjust to the new, blinding light, he knew it was his mother who had taken him away from his world of dark solitude. As his eyes slowly adjusted, he could make out the sympathetic expression of his mother, staring down at him, kneeling to be closer to his own eye level.
In one of his mother's hands was a notepad, and in the other was a pencil. Kichōna gave his mother an annoyed look, and turned away from her, sliding into the farthest away corner of the cramped closet. He knew what she wanted to do, but he didn't want to. They had done it at the hospital too, they would give him a notepad so his could say something, like ask a question, and they would answer it on the same notepad. It was stupid; why did he even bother. They couldn't help him.
Trying to remember the first day he was brought into the hospital, which was probably a week ago; but couldn't be sure, he hadn't been outside in days, ever since his mother took him back home. Reaching into his memory to recall what had happened, it started to come back.
"I can't hear you!" Kichōna had repeated for the tenth time, he could feel his voice reverberate through his throat, but no sound.
He couldn't quite come to terms with the fact that he couldn't hear; instead figuring he just wasn't being loud enough.
Kichōna watched as a group of nurses and doctors quickly gathered around him, and for a few moments, just, stared. His mother stood next to him, looking back rapidly from the medical staff to her son multiple times in utter confusion, just like him. Kichōna continued repeating the same phrase as before, but louder each time.
One of the doctors approached Kichōna's bed, and immediately Kichōna jumped up in fear, backing away while keeping an eye on everyone. The doctor made a "I won't hurt you" motion, but in his state, he didn't believe anything.
There was just one last thing Kichōna could try to see if he was really . . . deaf.
Before anyone knew it, Kichōna screamed at the top of his lungs, to the point where he thought his voice box might just give way from the pressure.
He must have been ear-piercingly loud, because two of the nurses covered their ears and cowered, and so did one of the doctors.
The same doctor that attempted to approach him as before now went over to Kichōna and shook him, but he refused to stop.
"No, no, no!" he thought angrily, getting more desperate with every second as his lungs felt like they were being compressed, trying with all his might to hear just one little thing, anything, just something, so he'd know it wasn't true. But somehow, he knew it was.
Kichōna kept screaming, he wanted to stop by now, but couldn't. It was like he had flipped an "On" switch and it couldn't be turned off, no matter what he did. His lungs began to weaken and run out of air shrieking like this, with the passing seconds it felt like his throat was shrinking to the size of a straw. There were red splotches in his vision, and he felt increasingly lightheaded.
He knew he couldn't keep this up any longer, as he saw himself fall onto the cold, hard ground as blackness consumed him.
Kichōna sighed as he looked back on the horrid memory, he wished he could erase it, and laugh about how this was all a daydream and he must be sleeping at his desk in Mr. Guam's class right now.
He twitched at the touch when his mother poked his shoulder; he had completely forgotten about her. Looking back, his mother had written something on the notepad. Taking it from her, he struggled to make out the words in the dim lighting.
❛❛ I love you.❜❜
The paper read simply in a plain, but recognizable cursive he knew well as his mother's.
Kichōna held back the sudden urge to cry; and his paws began to tremble a little as he held the piece of paper. Swallowing hard, he looked up at her as she stared down at him, her eyes were misty like his. Until this very moment, he hadn't even given a tiny thought to how this might have affected her. Only himself. She hadn't gone to work in at least a week, or left the house; and they needed the money, they always needed the money.
"I love you too." he mumbled shakily, just because he couldn't hear anymore, didn't mean he forgot how to speak. His mother smiled, her features lighting up for the first time in awhile. Jumping up he embraced her, feeling her warm, soft fur next to his, allowing his tears to finally fall.
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Yuppiedoodle, something new! I haven't posted because I've been busy, my Birthday was just a few days ago ^0^ But now I have more time to write ! Yay me!
And to those who might wonder something--- I use "paws" as well as "hands" even though they are animals on purpose. It's not a mistake.